PHILADELPHIA – A pair of its digital subscribers have hit The Philadelphia Inquirer with a class action lawsuit, alleging the newspaper disclosed their personal information to Facebook without their consent, in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA).
Jason Braun of Lafayette Hill and Jim Cummings of Pennsauken, N.J. (on behalf of all others similarly-situated) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Oct. 19 versus Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC.
“Plaintiffs bring this action in response to defendant’s practice of knowingly disclosing its subscribers’ personally identifiable information – including a record of every video clip they view – to Facebook without first obtaining its digital subscribers’ express consent in a stand-alone consent form that complies with the VPPA’s statutory requirements,” the suit said.
“The Philadelphia Inquirer used first-party and third-party cookies, software development kits, pixels, Facebook’s Business Tools, including Advanced Matching and Conversion API, to purposely track, record, collect, and transmit its digital subscribers’ interactions with inquirer.com. Defendant purposely sent its digital subscribers’ viewing history and personally identifiable information to its third-party business partners, including Facebook.”
The suit adds the defendant “knowingly installed the Facebook Pixel tool onto inquirer.com and controlled which types of information and data would be tracked and transmitted to Facebook.”
“Importantly, defendant shared its digital subscribers’ Personal Viewing Information – i.e. digital subscribers’ unique FIDs and viewed video content – together s one combined data point. Because a digital subscriber’s FID uniquely identifies their individual Facebook user account, Facebook, or any other ordinary person, can use it to quickly and easily locate, access, and view a digital subscriber’s corresponding Facebook profile. Put simply, defendant shares its digital subscribers’ viewed video media in a manner that allows third-parties to know each and every video an individual has viewed on inquirer.com. Defendant profited from its practice of disclosing digital subscribers’ Personal Viewing Information to Facebook, and it did so at the expense of its digital subscribers’ privacy and their statutory rights under the VPPA,” the suit states.
“Because defendant’s digital subscribers were not informed about this dissemination of their Personal Viewing Information – indeed, the transmission of data is automatic and invisible – they could not exercise reasonable judgment to defend themselves against the highly personal ways The Philadelphia Inquirer has used their data for its own benefit. Defendant chose to disregard plaintiffs’ and hundreds of thousands of other digital subscribers’ statutorily protected privacy rights by releasing their sensitive data to Facebook. Accordingly, plaintiffs bring this class action lawsuit for legal and equitable remedies to redress defendant’s practices of intentionally disclosing its digital subscribers’ Personal Viewing Information to Facebook in knowing violation of VPPA.”
For counts of violating the Video Privacy Protection Act and unjust enrichment, the plaintiffs are seeking the following reliefs:
• An order declaring that defendant’s conduct, as described herein, violates the VPPA;
• For defendant to pay $2,500 to each plaintiff and class member, as provided by the VPPA;
• For punitive damages, as warranted, in an amount to be determined at trial;
• For pre-judgment interest on all amounts awarded;
• For an order of restitution and all other forms of equitable monetary relief; and
• For an order awarding plaintiffs and the class their reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses and costs of suit.
The plaintiffs are represented by Arthur M. Stock of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, in Knoxville, Tenn.
The defendant has not yet obtained legal counsel.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case 2:22-cv-04185
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com